A conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus and a conventional method of recording and playing back video signals will be explained referring to FIGS. 6 to 8.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus. The conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus includes encoders 101 and 102, a system-stream generator 103, a recorder 104, a controller 1106, a player 107, a system-stream decomposer 108, decoders 109 and 110, and an on-screen-display (OSD) generator 1111. A recording medium 105 is a recordable digital versatile disk (DVD).
In the conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus, a digital video signal is received by the encoder 101 for high-efficiency-encoding it into a video bit stream in the MPEG-2 standard. Similarly, a digital audio signal is received by the encoder 102 for high-efficiency-encoding it into an audio bit stream in the MPEG-1 standard.
The video bit stream and the audio bit stream are transferred to the system-stream generator 103 for combining them to form a system stream of MPEG-2 packets conforming to sectors of the DVD.
The system stream is then recorded by the recorder 104 on a predetermined location of the recording medium 105 determined by the controller 1106.
In a time-shifting playback mode, while being recording in the recording medium 105, the video signal is played back from a recorded portion before the current recording position. More specifically, the player 107 reads out the system stream from the position of the recording medium 105 determined by the controller 1106.
The system stream of the MPEG-2 standard is then transferred to the system-stream decomposer 108 for dividing it into a video bit stream and an audio bit stream.
The video bit stream is input to the decoder 109 for high-efficiency-decoding it in MEG-2 into a video signal.
The audio bit stream is input to the decoder 110 for high-efficiency-decoding it in MEG-1 into an audio signal.
The video signal is then transferred to the OSD generator 1111 for adding a window, which is a data display, to the video signal in an alpha-blending format, in which the window being partially transparent overlaps a frame of the video signal at any location in the frame. The OSD generator 1111 may provide a window which appears at a corresponding location on a display screen as replacing an image on the screen. While the shape of the window can arbitrarily be determined, FIG. 6 illustrates of the window having a rectangular shape.
An item displayed in the window will be explained referring to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6 shows an item displayed in the window by the conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of displaying a time in the apparatus.
Numerals shown at an upper left and a lower left of the window shown in FIG. 6 represent a recording time and a playback time both expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds from the start of recording. As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the recording time (RecTime) and the playback time (PlayTime) are received from the controller 1106 and displayed over the screen image of the video signal by the OSD generator 1111. The window indicates the recording time and a playback position.
The window 1006 shown in FIG. 6 has a four-sided frame 1007 for indicating the entire recordable length of a disk. A hatching 1008 in the frame 1007 represents a recorded portion of the disk indicating the currently-recording (time) location at the right end.
The current playback position on the disk is indicated by a triangle mark 1009 under the frame 1007. The top vertex of the triangle 1009 indicates the current playback position on the disk.
The window shown in FIG. 6 may generally appear near a corner of the image screen of a display (not shown).
The conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.2000-228756 can display the current playback position in a playback mode for playing back a recorded video signal but not in the time-shifting playback mode.
In the conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus, a playback time from the start is constantly displayed in hours, minutes, and seconds using a number of digits and thus is hardly confirmed by a user. Since the conventional video signal recording/playback apparatus displays the current playback position out of the entire length of a recording area, the relationship between the current recording position and the current playback position is hardly recognized.